Significant

Sunday, February 05, 2017

What’s at Stake as Trump Takes Aim at Clean Energy Research?

Defunding programs like ARPA-E and the Office of Energy Efficiency would stall clean energy advances and cost jobs.

Clean energy researchers are bracing for federal funding cuts that could stunt the development of sustainable technologies, amid reports the Trump administration intends to shut down or slash resources for a long list of Department of Energy programs.At this stage, few can say with confidence which renewable energy initiatives and what level of cutbacks the Trump team will target, possibly even within the administration itself. But any significant reductions could have wide-reaching effects on energy and climate research, ultimately stalling job creation and greenhouse gas reductions.Staffers and scientists in DOE labs were particularly alarmed earlier this month by an article in The Hill reporting that the Trump administration wants to radically downsize the department. That and subsequent stories said the team was drawing guidance from a 2016 Heritage Foundation report that, among many other cutbacks, called for the outright elimination of the moonshot Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy program (ARPA-E), the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), and the Office of Fossil Energy, which is focused on carbon capture and storage research efforts, including "clean coal. "Clean energy researchers are bracing for federal funding cuts that could stunt the development of sustainable technologies, amid reports the Trump administration intends to shut down or slash resources for a long list of Department of Energy programs.Read more at What’s at Stake as Trump Takes Aim at Clean Energy Research?